THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING the sentinel of NEW YORK

By Michael Kaback

How many times have I searched the horizon, looking for the familiar pencil shape of the Empire State Building so that I could orient myself to my current location? If you are like me and countless others, you too use this familiar shape as a personal location device.

How many of us take this magnificent structure for granted?
Is the trip to the top only for tourists?
What’s going on up there to make those lines so long?
Are they giving away free stuff?

The easiest way to describe the view from the top of the Empire State Building is to remember your return flight circling over the city before landing, stopped, frozen in the air and you have all the time you need to open any window and take a good long look outside.

Look to the south and see the Statue of Liberty with the sun maybe setting over Her right shoulder, bright orange reflecting off the upper bay. Check both airports off to the east by watching where the planes land and get a feeling of how large Queens really is. Just to the south spot the Williamsburg Savings bank and the many Church steeples in Brooklyn, our most populous borough.  Jersey, just past the Hudson to the west and beyond Oklahoma and just over the horizon San Francisco. Look north past Rockefeller Center past the patch of green that is Central Park and see The Bronx.

This magnificent view from the 86th floor observatory is one of the ways the building was able to raise money when it was first opened in 1931; the rental income certainly wasn’t there. The occupancy rate was about 20% due to the great depression, even though the 7th floor rentals were only 2.85 per sq. ft.(It’s now closer to $40).

It would be many years before real estate people stopped calling it “The EMPTY” State Building!

SOME FACTS

The 86th floor, was the top in the original plans, only later was the dirigible mooring mast added to ensure a secure berth as the tallest building in the world for the next 40 years.

The original cost was figured at $43.7 mill.  The actual cost came in at $24.7 mill., (isn’t that sweet). The reason? Cost was figured in 1929 dollars and the construction was paid for in 1930 and 1931 money.

The amount of sway has been measured during up to 120mph winds and it has not been more than 2in. to either side of the vertical a total of only 4 inches, That’s one well built edifice!

The construction took only 14 months due to great planning and execution.

A 200lb person weighs only 199.8lbs at the top.

Sun set at the top is about half an hour later than at the bottom.

On Sat July 28, 1945 a 10 ton B25 bomber crashed into the north face of the building at the 913 ft. level, the 78/79th floor, killing 14 people.

For more interesting information on this topic pick up a copy of THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING by John Tauranac.

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